Friday 5: Top 5 Sets From 1996

I was in college at this point in my life and my interest in baseball cards at this point in my life was much more focused on the fun aspect, not necessarily the serious collecting aspect.  There was a card shop in the small Missouri town where I attended college, but it was not a great shopping experience by any means.  I did get some card shop time for a few months during the summer, but some of that time was spent chasing around a nine and seven year old I spent my summers mentoring during college.  

I shunned some of the high end stuff at this point in my life and went for packs of things that looked cool or unique.  Sure, there are some really nice cards in my collection from this year, but most of those cards were bought, or traded for, as singles and not pulled.  Looking back through my boxes of cards from this year, the emphasis was on new.......

5. Leaf Preferred- So, Leaf put out the Leaf Preferred set this summer and the cards generally looked like a rehash of lots of other Pinnacle/Leaf/Donruss sets from this era.  Blah design, 100-200 cards, and the usual assortment of players.  Not terribly exciting, but they did have these Leaf Steel cards in the set.....The Steel cards are really the star of the product and make this appear on my list.  Collectors got one Steel card per pack, some collectors might have been tempted to throw away the other five or six cards that came in packs.....Leaf did not produce a Steel card for every player in the base set, but there are 77 of the cards which is roughly half of the set.  At some point I owned all of these, but I am not sure where they have run off to in the year's since.  It appears that I have 63 of the 77....Hello SportsLots!! (maybe COMC).  If you do not own one of these Leaf Steel cards you are missing out on one of the true gems of the 90s.  

4. Topps Laser-  I remember buying a box of these and think that they were cooler than sliced bread.  Once you break them out of the packs and actually have to sort them the challenges begin.  They stick together and catch all kinds of things, but just take a step back and look at the cards.  Is there anything else in my collection that looks anything like this?  No.  Sure I have tons of die-cuts and cool shaped cardboard, but these were really unique cards.  I know a lot of collectors who start rolling eyes and look annoyed when you bring up Topps Laser cards.....Is it the ridiculous stat projections on the back of the Bright Spots inserts?  

Yes, they missed on the Jimmy Haynes projections, but they made a cool Jimmy Haynes cards.  Someone is happy about that.  Seriously, these boxes are still floating around out there and they are dirt cheap.  If you want a first hand brush with the coolness of baseball cards in the mid 90s this might be a good way to relive that experience.  

3.  Metal Universe- This is the third set on my list and the third product that was new to the baseball card world in 1996.  The difference between Metal Universe and the other two?  This set had a nice run for a few years that produced some really unique looking sets.  You've never seen Ken Griffey Jr. chasing a fly ball through (what appears to be) space?  Here's your chance.  This was a pretty simple and easy set to assemble.  All of the Metal Universe sets are cheap and easy to find.  This one has one of the simpler designs and textures, but was a really cool product at the time of it's release.   

2. SPx- We had several years of SP, but in 1996 Upper Deck introduced collectors to this brand new product.  One pack contained one holographic card.  The idea of only getting one card in a pack was a bit of bummer, but it looked cool.  The base cards look similar to the card pictured above, which is a Ken Griffey Jr. Commemorative, which is actually my favorite card in the product.  There were also two pretty nice autographs in the set.  The Griffey card above has an autographed version and this Piazza........

There are still inexpensive boxes of this floating around too, but if you like the looks of the cards, you can buy the base set cheap on Ebay and sink some dollars into finding the Piazza autograph.  It's easily his best autograph, in my opinion, and has gradually come down in price over the past decade after being sky high for years.

1.  Leaf Signature- One of the best sets from the 1990s and the best set from 1996.  There are years that I am willing to listen to some to debate, but not here.  This was one of the earliest per pack autograph sets out there, first mainstream one by a big card manufacturer, and it got a lot of the details right.  This product is really deep with lots of star power, but it also has plenty of autographs from a variety of different players.  Everyone who played that year seemed to sign for this product (slight exaggeration), but seriously there is something for everyone.  I have assembled the Cardinals set which features really nice 1990s players like Brian Jordan and Andy Benes, but also has signatures from dozens of other players on the team ranging from veteran backstop Tom Pagnozzi to veteran free agent pick ups like Mike Gallego and Rick Honeycutt, to young players like John Mabry who were just starting their career.   Really, I should probably just give this set it's own post one of these days and cannot give this set its full due in one paragraph.  This is a classic.  

Top 10 Prospects in 2015 Bowman

Friday is usually my countdown post, but this week I am throwing in a second in honor of this year's Bowman set.  I live in the middle of North Carolina which is jammed packed with minor league teams and college teams.  I usually get a chance to see quite a few of these players on their up to the Majors, and if I do not, I usually form an opinion on them anyway.  So, here is the deal with this post:

I flipped through all of the cards in the Bowman product; base set, prospects set, chrome prospects set, autographs, inserts, everything.  I picked out the ten best players in my opinion.  I know we all want these guys to be superstars, but in some cases I willing to settle for solid contributor.  That counts for something........

10. Noah Syndergaard- He's really big and has a nice fastball and curveball.  Syndergaard should be a power arm in the Mets rotation for a long time.  I still like Matt Harvey better, but not being quite as good as Matt Harvey means you are still pretty good.  I hate comps, because they usually get people upset, but I will go John Lackey.  Similar build, fastball/curveball, and the guy won two World Series rings.  If you're a Mets fan you take that right?  

9.  Joey Gallo- I have two swing and miss hitters on my countdown.  I do not like low contact hitters because they usually do not do much in the Majors.  See Mark Reynolds.  That's not my comp by the way, I don't think......So, Joey Gallo hits a lot of home runs.  Last year in the minor the Texas third base prospect hit 41 in 126 minor league games.  He also struck out 179 times in 537 plate appearances.  He's hitting for average this year in Double A, but the K's are still there.  I am going with Adam Dunn as a comp.  Should be a fun player to watch in Arlington for years to come.  

8.  Francisco Lindor- Lindor played locally for the Carolina Mudcats last year and is the gem of the Cleveland Indians farm system.  What's he do?  He's got a little bit of pop, but not a ton.  He hits about .270-.280, steals some bases, plays good defense.  I think he's going to be an above average Major League shortstop.  He might not hit the home runs that Gallo, or some of these others players put up, but I think he's a safe prospect.  Meaning he's going to play and play a long time.  I will say his comp is Orlando Cabrera.  

7. Carlos Correa- Correa was the first overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft.  He's already missed some time with a knee injury, but also already reached Triple A by hitting .300 most of the way through the minors.  He's not got a lot of pop yet and will steal a few bases.  He's 6'4 and has a chance to fill out a little bit more.  Definitely a higher ceiling than Lindor, but he's my second best shortstop on this countdown.  I think he develops some pop he could be something really special.  If not, he's going to be like Edgar Renteria with a slash numbers.  

6. Corey Seager- I am not sure if Corey Seager is going to end up at SS, but I kind of doubt it.  He's got some power, he hits for a good average, and he gets on base.  I do not mind his defense at short, but think he'd be a good defender at 3rd.  I think at worst he is a good to above average everyday third baseman for the Dodgers for the next decade plus.  He has the potential to be a very good player though and would not be surprised if he was an All-Star caliber player for a long time.  Sounds a lot like the other Seager......

5.  Julio Urias- I am putting this guy on my list at five, but I thought about putting him at 1.  He's the youngest player on this last, at 18, but has already spent a few seasons in the minors with the Dodgers.  Basically he strikeouts about 11 hitters per 9 innings that he pitches.  The Dodgers are really careful with him, so he has not pitched a lot of innings, nor won a lot of games (5 wins in 3 seasons), but he's supposedly really impressive.  No comp here.  

4. Addison Russell- I like Russell better than the other two shortstops on the list.  He's has the good qualities of both players (steadiness and fielding of Lindor, average and OBP of Correa) with a little bit more power and pop.  Russell is the second highest Cubs prospect on this list, but it' not going to shock me if he ends up being the better of the two players in the long run.  I think he's got a lot to offer.  I will go with Alan Trammel on my comp.  

3.  Kris Bryant- I can hear the booing and hissing already along with the chants of "You're a Cardinals fan".  Note that my number 4 player was a Cub and his comp player was someone many believe to be a Hall of Famer.  Bryant has a higher ceiling than Russell, but I have more concerns with Bryant.  Mainly, I do not like players who do not make contact.  Bryant has a lot of home runs.  He is going to hit a lot of home runs.  He is also going to strike out a ton.  You remember when Ryan Howard had an OBP above .400 and hit 58 home runs?  That could be Kris Bryant.  He could also end up being an Adam Dunn, Dave Kingman type too.  Lots of home runs, lots of strikeouts.  Hopefully lots of walks...

2. Joc Pederson- He's got some of the same problems as Bryant with the strikeouts.  Pederson needs walks if he is going to be a good Major League player.  He's also already got 9 home runs in his first 40 some MLB games, so the power seems to be there.  While I do not think Pederson has 40 home run power, he is probably going to hit 30 in year and he also steals bases.  He has gone over 30 twice and 25 two times in the Minors.  Pederson has the potential to be a good power speed guy who hits 25-30 home runs a year with 25-30 steals in a season.  

1.  I think the safe choice here is to go with Pederson or Bryant at 1, but I will roll the dice a little bit and go with Buxton.  First, he's really talented, but he's also really raw.  It might be a little bit before he's in the Majors, but he has the potential to be really good when he gets there.  He's hit for average, he's gotten on base, and he has tons of speed.  The home runs are not there yet, but he has hit a lot of doubles and triples during his time in the Minors.  

2015 Bowman Inserts, Parallels, and Minis

Third and final Bowman post on the jumbo box of cards I opened up last week.  So far I have covered my autographs and the base, prospects, and prospects chrome sets.  I saved the inserts, parallels, and minis for last.  Let's start with the two basic insert sets..........

The Bowman Scouts Top 100 prospects returns for another year.  There are also autographed versions of these cards which have appeared in the past five or so Bowman products.  I have never assembled this complete insert set in previous years, but mainly just focus on picking up the Cardinals and Rays in the set.  I pulled an Alex Reyes, so that saves me one trade or purchase.....

These flashback cards from 1990 are my favorite thing about this post.  Oh, and there are autographed versions of these cards too.  The set features Moises Alou, as a Pirate, Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, and Frank Thomas.  I am a little bit disappointed that Tood Zeile was not included.   I am going to pick up the non-autographed versions of these cards at the least.  Marquis Grissom?  Moises Alou?  Might see an autograph of those two before the end of the summer......

On to the parallels.  You remember this weekend when I made a post about tracking down a rainbow of Oscar Taveras?  I said it, but then in the course of working on this post I remembered why I hate the whole idea of rainbows.  I pulled five different colored parallels out of one jumbo box and I am sure there are another two or three that I am missing.  Not to mention things like printing plates.  The Jake Lamb is out of 150, two are out of 250, one is out of 500, and the sparkly one in the top left handed corner is not serial numbered.  Honestly, I like that one the best......

The minis are nice.  I like the minis.  If the parallels were all in miniature version I would probably like them a lot more.  The Rodon in the middle was a welcome pull and shows the base design of the mini set.  I also pulled a Piscotty which is flipped over to show the back.  Each team has five minis, their five best prospects, which are also included in the set.  So, in other words, not necessarily the team's five best prospects, just the five best prospects from that team featured in Bowman.  The Berrios is blue and serial numbered to 250.  There are probably four other colored versions of that card....

You can tell I may not be the biggest fan of the colored/rainbow parallels, but hey those 1990 throwbacks.....Have a great day.  

#MyCardMonday

I have been on a big 90s card kick over the past week, so I had to go with a 1990s classic for #MyCardMonday this week.  The Leaf Signature set has always been one of my favorite products and I have it featured this week in my Friday Five post which is going to feature my favorite sets from 1996.  Honestly, I wrote the segment on the 1996 Leaf Signature set first and felt like I should just let it stand alone.  I could not do it, but I did decide it would be cool to include it in another post this week.  Considering I have a Bowman post, a Durham Bulls post, and a few singles I picked up in trades and purchases this was my best bet to get in a second post on this set.

I have to save something for Friday's post, so I won't elaborate too much on the card other than this might be my favorite card from the set.  Pedro was an awesome pitcher at the end of his time with the Expos.  I saw him a few times in person pitching against the Cardinals and always walked away really impressed.  This was a gem......

2015 Bowman Base and Prospects Sets

Last week I showed off the autographs that came out of my jumbo box.  This week I am onto the base set and some parallels later in the week.  For now I am sticking with the base set......

The organization and design of the 2015 base set is pretty much the same it has been for the better part of a decade.  There is a base set with 200, the first 150 cards featuring established Major League players.  The design is what is...it looks like a Bowman set.

The backs of the cards are typical of Bowman too.  I know I do not do backs of cards often, but Bowman has a distinctive card back.   The little charts, graphs, and diagrams at the bottom (what us teacher folk call text features) have changed over the years, but the three sections of text have not.....

The back half of the base set, consisting of the last 50 cards, consist of young Major League players/Major League ready prospects.  Players like Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, and Javier Baez make up this part of the Bowman set.  While the quantity of players in this category included in the Bowman base set has changed from year to year, they have been included in with the veterans for almost a decade now....

The Bowman packs also feature cards in the Prospects and Prospects Chrome sets.  Each of the sets is a total of 150 cards and features the same players in each set with the same card number in each of the sets.  The design for the Prospects and Prospects Chrome sets is the same as the base set, but the numbering on the backs of the cards features the BP, for Bowman Prospects, and BCP for the Chrome Prospects.  There are definitely some good players in this year's set......

This Willy Adames is in the Bowman Prospects set.  Notice the 1st Bowman logo up in the top right hand corner of the card.  I am not going to go through the Bowman Prospects set in this post and tell you everyone that I like and do not like, but I do think this set has the potential to be a pretty deep set in the long term.  There is not a Bryce Harper, Strasburg, Kris Bryant mega prospect in the set, but the number of potentially good prospects in the set is still pretty impressive.  Adames is one of the prospects in this set that I am high on.  Over the summer I will round out the set, pick up some autographs and share a few more names from this set.....

Rodon might be one of the bigger names in this set.  This is from the Bowman Chrome portion of the prospects set.  He actually is scheduled to make his first start of the year this afternoon, I am typing this on Saturday afternoon, and he is clearly going to be a contributor to the White Sox this year.  

Overall this set is everything that collectors should expect out of Bowman.  I think there is good player selection within the prospects portion of the set.  I like this set and look forward to picking up some up the rest of the cards I need to finish out the base set, prospects set, and chrome set.  Of course there will be more autographs too.  Before we leave......

Big shout out to Bowman for putting Durham Bulls pitcher, and Rays prospect Matt Andriese in the set.  He does not have a ton of cards, not the most popular prospect in the game, but the guy works hard.  Fun player to watch if you are looking for a good player to collect in this set.....

I'm not in cardboard rainbows, but......

I ended up picking up another copy of a 2014 Bowman Inception card of Oscar Taveras.  I added a copy of the pink card last week and already owned a copy of the green card.  Here's a look at the newest card which is gold and numbered out of 99........

I am not into the whole rainbow thing, but these cards are starting to look nice together........

and this one........

So there are four of them right?  I'm a plain autograph short of the rainbow?  I really hate EBay at the moment, but it looks like I need to track down a card.....

Friday Five: Top 5 Sets from 1995

After a personal down year in 1994 the baseball card world took a turn for the unexciting in 1995.  There were not a lot of cards to be excited about during the summer of 1995 and the sport was also coming back after a painful labor dispute.  I still found some sets to put together that year and will spend a few minutes sharing some of my favorites from 20 years ago.  This post is also making me feel a little bit old.

5. (tie) 1995 Topps Traded- One of the real problems with the 1995 card products was the lack of star rookies.  Important rookie cards drive excitement with collectors.  At the time of the card releases there was a pretty big rookie card floating around that year, we'll get that later, but there are also cards that have become important with time.  The Carlos Beltran/Juan LeBron card is a great example.  Beltran was a really well thought of prospect around the time of the 1995 Topps Traded release, which continued for more than a decade later, but it's not like this card...or is it this one.......

The Beltran rookie card is certainly popular, but I am not sure it's value really reflects I guy who is a borderline Hall of Famer.  The guy has been a great player for the past fifteen years or so and has done a lot of damage in the Postseason.  This set also has a Hideo Nomo rookie card, and while he was the more important rookie at the time of the set's release, his cards have lost a lot of their mojo and there are better rookie cards of him floating around.

5. (tie) 1995 Topps- There were some bad efforts by Topps around this time, but this set stands out for me.  The photography was on par with the Upper Deck sets, and while I liked the clean borderless look of the Upper Deck set better, this was still a really nicely designed product.  While it lacks important rookie cards I still really love looking at this set.  One interesting wrinkle to this set is the CyberStats parallel which projected the stats the players would have ended the 1994 season with if the strike had not cancelled games after August.

I do not have a full set of the CyberStats cards, but this would be a really really fun project to complete one day when I have a little bit more time.  

4.  1995 Emotion- I really liked this set.  Strictly a design thing.  I am not sure they are really too expensive, exotic, or difficult to find.  This Fleer product offered collectors full card photos with an adjective describing the player stamped onto the card.  The complete set can be found for $10-$15 on Ebay, but the boxes are only $25-$30.  Why not have a little fun and put the set together yourself?  The set is 200 cards and the most important card in the set is the Hideo Nomo rookie card.  I love this card and it's always been my favorite Nomo rookie card.  

I am not sure about the adjective on the card, but I love the photo showing Nomo's unique delivery.  If you are not into picking up the whole set this card is a great mid 90s single card to own.

3.  1995 Upper Deck- These cards were really simple, but I loved the looks of these cards.  The photography was really nice and there were some cool inserts to go along with the base set.  In particular, I am a really big fan of the autographed cards.  

By the mid 90s I felt like Upper Deck had reached the company's base sets are worthy of a look from any collector.  There was also a Minor League version of this set put out by Upper Deck that has the same design and a few nice cards in the set.  

2.  Bowman- The 1995 Bowman set was weak on design, but it did have a few really nice cards in the set.  No they were not Hideo Nomo.  The big three rookies in the set belonged to Andrew Jones, Scott Rolen, and Vladimir Guerrero.  Nice names and in the late 90s/early 2000s this set was really hot.  Unfortunately Jones and Rolen faded due to injuries or strike outs or temper tantrums.  Vladdy was a great player, but the last few years of his career seemed to have softened his hobby power.  Still, this is one of the more important Bowman sets from this era.  

1. Select Certified- This is a small, 135 cards, set that was only given to Hobby stores.  This set had a low production run for the time, something like only 60,000 boxes were made, and had some cool features which made it competitive with the Topps Finest set.  The Mirror Gold cards were the equivalent to the refractors and played very well with collectors.  This product also had a Hideo Nomo rookie which was deemed an important card at the time.  Naturally it's lost a lot of it's value.  This thick set is another fun set to flip through 20 years after it's release and can be found for a few bucks on Ebay.  Although the boxes do tend to sell for a decent amount ($45-$50).